Agent overpricing

peterhjohnson

RelievedSheff said:

Our local over valuer put a 2 bed semi on the market yesterday. The house a few doors up exactly the same is under offer at £155k. Over valuer has put this one up for £200k. 

It can't all be the sellers dictating prices. 

OK, we don't have an "over valuer" EA around here. In the market segment I know well, every agent has the occasional overpriced property that sticks on the market.

I saw one agent list a property back in 2020 for about 10% under and their website featured how they got 4 over asking offers within 24 hours.

Skiddaw1

When we were preparing to sell our previous house we had quotes from three local EAs and one quote was significantly higher than the other two (which were identical, and which reflected our own opinion of the current value). It was pretty clear to us that the EA quoting the higher figure was kite-flying/testing the market (it was late winter so we were one of the first 'spring' houses to go on the market). We noticed subsequently that the EA in question did that a lot (and houses on the market with them often reduced in price after a while). We went with one of the lower estimates (and found a buyer very quickly). We were glad we weren't tempted to go with the higher quoting EA as I think we would have certainly had to drop the price before we found a buyer.

Mutton_Geoff

I'll counter the argument as well. My last two houses sold using agents who priced them c 20% more than other agents invited to quote at the time. Both agents (in different parts of the country) achieved their suggested asking prices in a reasonable time (4 weeks in 2016 and 10 weeks in 2021). I am now more than £500,000 better off than if I'd sold using prices suggested by the other agents and my guess is they were pitching for quick sales to bolster turnover rather than being prepared to put in the work to maximise return for their clients.

robatwork

No idea why anyone thinks an Estate Agent knows any more about a house valuation than themselves, a man on the street, or even the gender-nonspecific passenger on the omnibus. While EAs can go on training courses, they don't have to; there's no reason that anyone who can navigate the internet onto this forum can't have all the information (or more) than the EA has about your property and the local valuations.

Whose time is worth more than the few hours (or a couple of days) research when selling compared to the £1000s or £10000s that you stand to make/lose by not knowing your own house's value?  Not Mutton_Geoff directly above this post for sure.

Mutton_Geoff

robatwork said:

No idea why anyone thinks an Estate Agent knows any more about a house valuation than themselves, a man on the street, or even the gender-nonspecific passenger on the omnibus. While EAs can go on training courses, they don't have to; there's no reason that anyone who can navigate the internet onto this forum can't have all the information (or more) than the EA has about your property and the local valuations.

Whose time is worth more than the few hours (or a couple of days) research when selling compared to the £1000s or £10000s that you stand to make/lose by not knowing your own house's value?  Not Mutton_Geoff directly above this post for sure.

To clarify, both the houses sold were fairly unique in several aspects so were very difficult to value as there were no recent and local comparables. I knew what they owed me but not what someone was prepared to pay. As much as I dislike agents, I congratulate the ones I used for their ability to convert prospects into a purchase, something I would not have been able to do at those achieved prices using Purple Bricks etc. They were well worth their £20k fees.

Thrugelmir

Bottom line is that the vendor decides on which course of action to take. Majority of people will want to achieve the best possible price possible. They would hate the thought of giving money away.